


Breaking Bones and Building Bonds

by lalahss



Series: fics for every ship in three houses [3]
Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Broken Bones, F/M, First Kiss, Gentle Kissing, Oblivious, Sensitive Nose
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-17
Updated: 2019-12-17
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:53:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21827005
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lalahss/pseuds/lalahss
Summary: Ferdinand von Aegir, while running late to a Black Eagles meeting, broke his ankle jumping down a stairwell. Waking up in the infirmary next to a very talkative Hilda Valentine Goneril, he finds that when she's not asking for things from him, Hilda is quite sweet. Cute, even.Set after their B support, ignoring their A support.
Relationships: Ferdinand von Aegir/Hilda Valentine Goneril
Series: fics for every ship in three houses [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1569397
Kudos: 14
Collections: FE3H Rarepair Port's All Pairings Challenge





	Breaking Bones and Building Bonds

**Author's Note:**

> I am definitely putting off the FE3H Ranch AU, but I do love this pairing! Their supports were sweet, and I do like pairing "lazy" and "hardworking" characters... so here we are!

Edelgard had called a meeting in one of the courtyards in the Garreg Mach monastery before training to talk tactics for the Black Eagle’s next mock battle. Ferdinand was running late to that meeting, and once he saw the stairs leading to the courtyard, he saw Edelgard speaking to Petra and Hubert below. Either he was late or she had started early, he pondered, but there was no time for worrying. He had to get down as fast as he could, and eyed the thirteen or so steps. He was fast, so he could jump down them… right?

Ferdinand knew the minute he tried to jump down the stairwell to the other Black Eagles that he had made a mistake.

Petra, who was below him, cried out and backed off as Ferdinand’s left foot touched one of the steps. It twisted precariously as his right foot tried to find purchase on the floor below, slipping out in front of him. His legs spread, and he cried out as his left foot fell under his calf and he smashed his ankle into the ground, in a position he was sure was not biologically possible…

“Oh no!” Bernadetta shrieked, and Ferdinand felt a tingling feeling spread through his foot. He cautiously wiggled his right foot, nodded, and then tried to wedge his left foot out from under his leg. Immediately, a red hot pain shot up his foot and settled in his kneecap. Uh oh.

“Ow!” Ferdinand found himself unable to think, and groaned. “My foot…”

“Are you alright?” Edelgard asked him as she turned to him, and he hissed as he tried to move his ankle free. “Do I need to call for Manuela?”

“May as well,” Hubert responded, and Ferdinand felt himself paling. “He looks hurt.”

“Ferdie? You okay?” Dorothea went up to him, and he groaned. Why did he think he would get there faster if he jumped down the stairs? It was the act of a child, he thought to himself, and not a bright one at that. He would need to work on this for the future. For now, however?

“Mmmm… I have been better.” His ankle was searing hot beneath him, and with a fast movement he swung it out from beneath him. This proved to be a mistake, as the pain was so severe that Ferdinand yelled out, and Bernadetta went deathly pale as his ankle turned at a stomach-churning angle.

“Ooooo!” Caspar called out, “it looks like you broke it!”

“Caspar, please…” Dorothea grimaced. “He’s in enough pain as it is.”

“What possessed you to do this?” Hubert said, bending down to Ferdinand. “It has not impressed anyone–”

“It’s at a ninety degree angle, Linhardt!”

“–minus Caspar.”

“I can see that,” Linhardt said, nonplussed. “There is a bone poking out.”

“I was wanting to get down more efficiently,” Ferdinand hissed out, in more pain than usual. “It was a foolish idea, but there is not much I can do about it no-Ow!” He tested moving his ankle again, and felt tears prickle his eyes. “I am certain being disemboweled would hurt less than this.”

“Edie has gone to get Manuela,” Dorothea said to Ferdinand kindly. “So sit tight, and you’ll be okay soon.”

Ferdinand realised his eyes were starting to blur in front of him, and he laid his head on the stone steps. “Please…”

“Manuela will help your ankle,” Petra said, appearing next to him. Ferdinand could see her purple braid hanging over her head, and he sighed.

“Yes, I hope she can solve this… ah…” Ferdinand could feel his brain wanting to fade away, and he could understand why– his ankle was on fire, and it was too much pain for him to handle. Of course, he had faced pain in battle, but he had really done it this time… He shut his eyes, and hoped it would end soon.

He heard a noise and begrudgingly opened his eyes, to find everything changed. He was on a thin mattress, and upon moving his head around, could see he was in the infirmary. He was in the bed closest to the wall, and there was a poster detailing what to do if you felt sick. He smiled to himself, remembering how Manuela was always a stickler for looking after yourself. That being said…Manuela was not in the room, he noticed, and as he tried to lift himself up he felt a wave of pain course through his leg. He looked down his body, and saw his leg in a splint of sorts. That was good, he thought, but how did this happen?

“Oh my gosh, you’re up?” Ferdinand turned around, and saw Hilda in the bed behind him. His eyes focused, and he saw her with a bandage around her arm. “Are you okay?”

“I made the foolish decision to jump down the stairs outside the dining hall,” Ferdinand said, “and I am paying for it as we speak.” His mind felt foggy, and as soon as he spoke he wished he had fallen back onto his pillow and back into slumber.

“Yeah, I saw you getting carried in by your classmates! I was soooo worried, but Manuela told me to stay put.”

“I doubt you would move anyway,” Ferdinand noted, “given your reputation, anyway.”

“I’m not that lazy! Well… not when people are hurt.” She pouted, and Ferdinand found himself first frowning, and then smiling at her. Her charms were indeed as strong as he remembered them being that past week when she’d persuaded him to make her tea. At least his brain could recognise and remember that in any case. “Anyway, you’re probably wondering how I got this!”

“Well yes,” Ferdinand replied, eyeing it. “What could cause such a cut?”

“A cooking accident, of course! I managed to cut open my arm when Lorenz bumbled past me in the kitchen, and I ended up falling on my knife on the bench.”

Ferdinand winced. “Is Lorenz that clumsy?”

“Weeeell… he might’ve been a bit annoyed at me complaining, and he might’ve shoved me a little bit when I said I was getting a sudden headache…”

“Right.” Ferdinand frowned. “Still, that is harsh.”

“I might’ve also gotten a bit annoyed at him and threatened to leave him in the kitchen…” She saw Ferdinand’s worried face, and smiled. “But yeah, he wasn’t looking when he went past me, and he was very apologetic afterwards!”

“I am certain he was.” He eyed up Hilda, and then her bandage. “Surely Manuela’s staff would have healed up the cut?”

“She wanted me to stay with you for a bit, but I think she took pity on me! I mean, because I’m actually injured and because you looked so washed out…”

“Thank you.” Ferdinand smiled at her warmly, and she grinned back in kind. “That is surprisingly selfless of you.”

“No worries! I couldn’t let you stay here all by yourself, after all– hey…” She frowned at him, and he quickly interjected.

“Still. Thank you.” Ferdinand took a moment to properly look at Hilda, and he smiled. “You have saved me a few lonely hours of simply staring at the ceiling, after all.”

“Ferdinand, ugh… you’re so sweet even when you’re insulting me! I dunno if I like it, but…” She trailed off, and as she brushed her hair out of her face, Ferdinand noticed her eyes were a different shade of pink to her hair. Darker, and more vivid… For some reason this made his heart beat faster, and he frowned at this. What could be the cause of this? “It’s cute, especially when you’re kinda delirious…”

“Delirious?” Ferdinand gave Hilda a look. “What about me suggests I am delirious?”

“You’re blushing. I’ve never seen you blush. You’re always so straight laced, you know?”

“Hmm.” He put a hand to his cheek, and it was indeed warm. What in the Goddess’s name? Was it because she called him cute?

“And like… I dunno? You jumped down a stairwell, and that’s strange enough.”

“I wanted to impress Edelgard,” Ferdinand said, embarrassed. “She is the one thing standing between me and being the most compelling person in the Officers Academy.”

“You know, Claude’s kinda… charismatic, so the competition’s a bit stiff.”

“You have a point,” Ferdinand replied, “but as she is my house leader, I need to at least aspire to be better than her. It is partially my ambition, partially appearances.”

“So… you want to look good, but you’re kinda worried about not looking good in front of her?”

“Yes… yes.” Ferdinand turned his head and felt himself heating up again, but Hilda’s very soft hand on his shoulder came as a complete shock. He turned around to her, and saw her inviting pink eyes looking into his. The combined sensation of her hand, her eyes, and his heart threatening to beat a hole through his chest only made him feel more confused, and Hilda laughed as he gave her a halfhearted smile.

“You look so tired! If only I was able to brew you some tea… my arm is hurting a lot, after all.”

Ferdinand sighed. “Do not think I will fall for that again.”

“No! I didn’t mean it like that!” Hilda frowned. “I mean… I genuinely would want to make you some tea. I really would.” She paused, and Ferdinand could see the sincerity in her eyes, and not the false sort she employed so often with him.

“I appreciate the thought,” Ferdinand said kindly. “And I hope your arm heals soon.”

“Thank you! Same with your ankle… Hehe!” He looked down, and as he saw his ankle looking red in its splint, he could feel Hilda’s soft breaths caressing his cheek. “You know, it’s rare to see you in such a state…”

“I am well aware,” he replied, feeling himself becoming more and more flustered. “I clearly need some more sleep.”

“Is that why you jumped? Have you been sleeping enough?” Hilda asked him, tone changing to one of concern.

“Enough, I suppose.” In truth he had four hours the previous night, mostly due to training late and trying to study for class the next day. Clearly it had impeded his judgement, he thought, but that would be something he would rectify the next day, once he had gotten enough sleep and was not jumping down stairs.

“Sure. Enough.” She turned his head to hers, pressing the soft part of his jaw with her fingertips. “And I’m Saint Cethleann.”

“What would it matter to you, Hilda?” She smiled, and Ferdinand felt his heart beat quicken as the corners of her lips turned upwards. Her lips were pink too, but a different pink to her eyes and hair…

“You always work so hard, and I worry about you a bit. Like, how do you get all your tasks done so fast? How are you so organised? How do you train for hours and hours each day without getting tired?”

“Practice,” he replied, mind wandering, thinking about whether her lips would be as soft as her fingertips. He couldn’t see any chapped skin on them, and there was a minute freckle on her top lip which his eyes kept wandering back to. “Yes, practice,” he repeated, losing his train of thought. “Focus, a goal… if I am to be Edelgard’s advisor, I must be fastidious in every task I undertake… ah…”

“Are you alright?” Hilda’s lips seemed closer to his than they were, and as he looked into her eyes, he noticed they had a warm pink gradient going from the outside to the middle. They were, for want of a better word, inviting, Ferdinand thought.

“What was that?” He knew his voice was dreamy, and he wondered if Manuela had fed him some kind of sleepy medicine. That surely was the only explanation for why the natural bumps along Hilda’s nose and the soft peach fuzz across her face seemed so adorably cute…

“You’re even pinker now…” She giggled lightly, and Ferdinand looked down at her lips again. Inviting lips, he thought.

“Forgive me, Manuela must have given me an antihistamine of some sort…”

“Ferdinand…” Hilda parted her lips, and Ferdinand rested his forehead against hers. “She didn’t. I think either you’re really exhausted after breaking your ankle, or…” 

“Do you have anything that could wake me up? My head feels as if it is underwater.”

Hilda smiled, much to Ferdinand’s confusion. “It should clear soon, Manuela said that you would be in shock.”

“Is this how normal people feel?”

Hilda laughed. “No!” She then took his hand, and he cursed how sweaty it was. His whole body felt clammy, as a matter of fact. “How strong was the pain back there?”

“I think… I was in intense pain, and then I passed out. Either that, or I fell asleep.” His memory felt blurry and hard to decipher, and he gritted his teeth. “I cannot remember.”

Her lips seemed to purse, in their soft pink glory, and Ferdinand suddenly had a realisation. She was cute, and he liked that. His mind was still trapped in the fog of pain, but this much was clear.

“Dorothea said you’d fallen asleep, but Petra was convinced you’d passed out, so I don’t think anyone really knows.”

“That is not good.” Ferdinand sighed, and Hilda drew circles on his hand. Goddess, why was Hilda doing this? She was driving him mad with the little mental capacity he had. “I hope I have not done something irreversibly idiotic.”

“I don’t think you have.” She squeezed his hand, and he relished this physical contact. “I’m sure you’re just super tired.”

“I hope so.” He pressed the tip of his nose against the side of hers, testing the waters, of what he wasn’t entirely aware. She giggled, and pressed hers against the side of his. Almost immediately, he felt a nerve on the side of his nose go into overdrive, sending something sharp and clear and pleasuring down his body and through his brain. His pain seemed to flourish into something high definition, but there was something else too.

She liked him too. She was panting slightly, and her hand was sweaty against his. He was fairly coy towards girls, but he resolved he needed to do something about his feelings for Hilda, before they both lost their nerve and went back to their ordinary lives. Perhaps this surge of confidence came from the fact the pain in his ankle was subsiding, or maybe because it was growing… In any case, his clarity was startling, and near embarrassing in its delayed onset. Someone as noble as himself should not be so lethargic, he thought to himself, but nor should they be jumping down stairwells.

He gathered his words together, and said, “Whether it is exhaustion or not, you look exceptionally beautiful.” Ferdinand could feel his blood pumping after he said this, but the rosy hue sprinkled across Hilda’s cheeks more than made up for his bold outburst.

“Mmm, I was wondering when you were going to properly wake up and notice I liked you,” Hilda said playfully, but breathlessly. “Your ankle must hurt a lot if you were that oblivious…”

“My ankle is improving, as is the colour in your cheeks.” He rested his nose to the side of hers, and felt a wave of dizziness overcome him suddenly as he hit the nerve again with the side of her nose. “Ooh…”

“Are you alright?” Hilda said. “That didn’t sound so good…”

“Alas, my head is spinning, so I might not be a paragon of health yet…” His nose felt positively tingly.

“Is it your ankle, or my exceptional beauty?” Hilda winked, and Ferdinand smiled ruefully.

“I do not know, and I regret saying so, especially when this is how you treat me.”

“Oh Ferdinand…” Hilda put her hand to his cheek, and hummed contentedly. “It could be both… That being said, I won’t kiss you until Manuela says you’re alright. You could get dizzier…”

Ferdinand shifted his weight onto his left leg, and pain shot through it. “Ouch!” He paused, and frowned. “I am not entirely convinced my dizziness is me being overcome with love for you. No offense of course,” he added quickly.

“None taken. I’ll stay with you anyway, Ferdinand.” She winked, and Ferdinand hummed as his lips turned into a smile. “I’ll stay until you’re much, much better…”

“Thank you.” His voice had dropped in tone, in a more flirtatious than conspiratorial way. Was this… how it felt to flirt and have it reciprocated? His confidence spurred him on as he leaned in to brush his lips against Hilda’s, and she yelped with surprise before wrapping her arms around him and kissing him back. She was gentle, but Ferdinand could sense some pent up affection behind it. It was welcome to his hazy mind, and he smiled as she sighed once they parted. “I am seeing a much kinder side of you today… but,” he paused, and she gave him an expectant look, “Is this because you like me, or because you can get out of class?”

“Shush!” She squealed, and Ferdinand pulled her closer to him, ignoring the slight pain in his ankle. “Anyway, let me kiss you again.” She pulled him in and kissed him, and he moved an arm to her soft pink hair, threading his fingers through one of her ponytails. Ferdinand could smell the sweet scent of flowers, and wondered what kind of shampoo she used. If only his hair could be just as lush and lovely… He was brought back to the kiss however when Hilda started stroking his cheek, and the sensation was new, and exciting. His nose first, now his cheek… how had he not realised the joys of having his face touched thus far in his life?! When they parted, she laughed gently, and Ferdinand smiled dreamily in response. “I know I said I’d wait…”

“You can do whatever pleases you,” Ferdinand responded. “I am sure Manuela will put me on bed rest until I heal, and your kisses would only speed up my recovery. Plus, your kisses are a special kind of exciting…”

“Perfect.” Before Hilda leaned in, she whispered, “I was hoping that we’d be able to see each other around the monastery, you know… not so that I’d ask you to kiss me, but so that you could look at me like that again.”

“How so?”

“You know…” She widened her eyes, and parted her lips. “All gooey-like, I guess?”

“Do I– Do I look like that?” Ferdinand looked aghast. 

“Sometimes.” She pecked his cheek, and laughed. “It happens when I turn on the charm, but today it was from the moment you saw me!”

“Well… you are immensely charming, and today I was taken off guard.” He smiled, feeling the pout of his lips skim across hers.

“Oh!” Hilda squeaked, then gave him a warm look, which made Ferdinand’s body burn. “Oh…”

“So if you do not mind kissing me again, you are very welcome to.”

“Of course!” She kissed him once again, perkily, and Ferdinand eased into the quick kiss, hoping this moment would never end. They separated, but Hilda put her hand on Ferdinand’s cheek. “I’ll kiss you until you’re much, much better, and then I’ll kiss you some more.” She pecked him on the lips for good measure.

“Thank you Hilda,” he replied kindly, “your kindness knows no bounds.”

“Well… none, unless there’s work involved.” She poked her tongue out at him, and he sighed.

“Hilda.” She laughed, and he couldn’t help but laugh with her.

“Sorry!” She straightened up, and gave him a wide-eyed look. “But if it’s for you, I’ll do it.” 

Ferdinand took her hand into his, before giving her a soft kiss. “As will I for you.”


End file.
